FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT SOLAR POWER - PAGE 4

NEW DELHI: Solar power solutions provider Rays Power Experts is in early-stage discussions with private equity firms to raise its first round of funding, estimated at Rs 400 crore. Blackstone and Gujarat Venture Finance are among the risk capital investors in talks to invest in the four-year-old, Jaipur-headquartered startup. A potential transaction could see the investors pick up as much as 25% ownership of the company, according to sources. The development comes when the country's policy makers have set ambitious targets to ramp up India's solar power capacity.

NEW DELHI: To give a boost to its efforts to bring down the cost of solar power in India, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy ( MNRE ) is planning to roll out large megawatt size solar power projects, in the order of 500 MW and above. "We want to bring in volume in the Indian solar sector. Several states have already rolled out mega-sized solar power projects, its needs to be done at central level too," said Tarun Kapoor , joint secretary, MNRE. Till yet MNRE has tendered projects of size 50 MW through National Solar Mission , though several states have either commissioned or executing solar power projects of larger size to meet their escalating demand of power.

AHMEDABAD: Actor Ajay Devgan will invest in a solar power project in Gujarat, helping the western state join its neighbours Rajasthan and Maharashtra in attracting star power into renewable energy, a government official said. Devgan will invest in the 25mw plant in partnership with Mumbai-based Roha Group, the official said, requesting anonymity. The cost of the proposed project is estimated at Rs 400 crore. Roha Group chairman Ramakant Tibrewala could not be contacted for comment.

BHUBANESWAR: The Grid Corporation of Orissa [Gridco] on Tuesday singed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the power utility major, National Thermal Power Corporation [NTPC] to purchase 10 MW of solar power from its plants. NTPC will supply 5 MW Solar power from Dadri Solar power station in Uttar Pradesh and 5 MW from Faridabad Solar power station in Haryana. NTPC executive director, K. V. Ramarao, and Gridco director [commercial] P. K. Pradhan, signed the PPA. The National Tariff Policy mandates each State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC)

VIJAYAWADA: The Non-conventional Energy Sources Development Corporation of Andhra Pradesh ( NEDCAP ) plans to provide total solar power to newly constructed villages under the Rehabilation and Reconstruction Scheme of the Andhra Pradesh government, its project director M Ramamohan said. In Andhra Pradesh, street lighting in 47 villages have been equipped with solar power and in 17 other villages, every house has been provided with solar-powered LED bulbs to save energy, he said.

NEW DELHI: Residential colonies and commercial establishments could reduce the burden of their electricity bills if a study currently being carried out by Tata Power Delhi Distribution finds rooftop solar power generation projects feasible and the city joins the club of such power producers that includes Gujarat. According to estimates, 33 km of Delhi's total area of 1,483 sq km can be used for rooftop solar photovoltaic projects to install 2,557 mw of capacity. However, Delhi's potential to produce solar power has not been exploited yet, even as power demand touches new heights almost every successive summer, which is the most productive season for solar power installations.

KOLKATA: Solar power can now be generated from still water found in ponds, lakes and waterbodies. A system of generating electricity from floating panels has been developed by a college in Kolkata. Solar panels will be set up on floating platforms which will be anchored firmly so that it does not sway around on the water surface. However, scientists in charge of the project are still working on the ways of securing the platform in case there are strong winds. With large waterbodies available in eastern and south-eastern part of the country in states such as West Bengal, Assam, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh, this technology can lead to considerable savings on land prices and bring down power generation expenses, thus reducing the gap between thermal and solar power.

MUMBAI: Larsen & Toubro is looking is looking at grabbing sizeable orders for solar power projects driven by opportunity is sees in the sector. The $ 11.7 billion-engineering conglomerate's fledgling solar power projects business has an order backlog of Rs 350 crore currently, but the company sees growth opportunities given India's aim to scale up total installed capacity in the country to 20,000 mw by 2020. "We see a lot of potential in solar power sector and have deep rooted long term plans for this business.

NEW DELHI: The Centre today announced giving incentives to developers for setting up solar power plants to encourage use of green energy and attract investments of about Rs 1,000 crore over the next few years. The government will give Rs 12 per unit to developers of grid connected solar power plants as incentive. It will also give Rs 10 per unit for electricity generated through solar thermal power plants and fed to the grid under a demonstration programme, Minister of New and Renewable Energy Vilas Muttemwar told reporters here.